WFP to provide aid to flood-hit people of Bangladesh

The World Food Programme is working with the government of Bangladesh to help more than 275,000 people affected by flooding in the country’s northwest, says an official on Tuesday.
‘WFP is closely monitoring the situation and stands ready to assist further,’ said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson of the UN secretary general in a regular briefing at UN headquarters in New York.
The government of Bangladesh says that more than 2 million people have been affected in nearly one-third of Bangladesh’s 64 districts, he said.
An innovative project, which uses weather forecasts to trigger early actions such as cash transfers, is being used for the first time, Farhan said.
He mentioned that some 5,000 households, or 25,000 of the most vulnerable people, have received money through mobile transfers as part of the project.
The Global Compact, the UN’s corporate lobby, on Tuesday announced that 28 companies with a combined market cap of $1.3 trillion dollars have committed to step up their climate action ahead of the Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit in September.
These companies collectively represent over one million employees from 17 sectors and more than 16 countries and include Unilever, Levi Strauss and Co, Vodafone and Hewlett Packard, among others.
The companies have committed themselves to more ambitious climate targets aligned with limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and reaching net-zero emissions by no later than 2050.
Following discussions with European States in Paris, UN high commissioner for refugees Filippo Grandi and director general of the International Organisation for Migration Antonio Vitorino welcomed the consensus on the need for action on Libya and the Mediterranean.
Violence in Tripoli in the past few weeks has made the situation more desperate than ever, and the need for action is critical, they said.
The heads of UNHCR and IOM stressed the importance of ending the arbitrary detention of refugees and migrants in Libya.
They added that no one should be returned to detention centres in Libya after being intercepted or rescued at sea.
Grandi and Vitorino also acknowledged the renewed commitment from States to prevent loss of life on the Mediterranean Sea.
They called for a European Union State search and rescue operation, adding that the status quo, where search and rescue operations are often left to NGOs or commercial vessels, cannot continue.
They urged States to work with their agencies to get the most vulnerable refugees in Libya out of danger; and welcomed the expressions of support in this regard that they heard in Paris.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net